Influence of Wind on Suspended Matter in the Water of the Albufera of Valencia (Spain)

• Main Authors: Juan Soria, Miguel Jover, José Antonio Domínguez-Gómez
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-03-01
• Series: Journal of Marine Science and Engineering
• Subjects: transparency; suspended solids; wind effect; shallow lake; Sentinel-2
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1312/9/3/343

Wind significantly influences suspended matter in lakes, especially in shallow lagoons. To know how wind affects the water in Albufera of Valencia, a shallow coastal lagoon, the measured variables of turbidity and transparency have been correlated with the estimates by processing Sentinel-2 satellite images with the Sen2Cor processor. Data from four years of study of winds show that most of them are light to gentle easterly breezes and moderate to fresh westerly breezes. The obtained results show significant correlations between the measured variables and those obtained from the satellite images for total suspended matter and water transparency, as well as with the average daily wind speed. There is no significant correlation between wind and chlorophyll <i>a</i>. Moderate to fresh breezes resuspend the fine sediment reaching concentration values from 100 to 300 mg L⁻¹ according to satellite data. However, it is necessary to obtain field data for the values of moderate and fresh winds, as for now, there are no experimental data to verify the validity of the satellite estimates.